Review: Star Wars Burlesque: The Empire Strips Back

By now we have established that I am a nerd, correct? In case you need a refresher you can check out my love of geekery here

So when I heard that Star Wars Burlesque (SWB) was having a limited run at The Vanguard in Newtown – I promptly signed up to help me on my quest for geekery fulfillment.

This was my first ever ‘full’ Burlesque show – full as in a whole show dedicated to Burlesque. So assuming that to be a bit of an eye opener – coupled with the plethora of Star Wars references… safe to say there was a lot to register for this wide-eyed innocent.

Evidently there are lot of folks out there who are not quite familiar with what Burlesque is, to be clear it is a tease, it is not sleazy and does not involve any form of ‘tipping’ the dancers. And in the case of SWB, no full frontal nudity… just a bit of boob here and there for just the right amount of titillation. To get the whole SWB experience I took along a male companion – who is a major Star Wars fan… and who just happens to appreciate the female form more than I ever could.

There was no storyline for the night – but more of a collection of distinct performances featuring different Star Wars characters with most of the male characters just ‘happening’ to be female for the night… including the sexiest Darth Vadar I have ever witnessed. The night features Luke Skywalker as our host for the night–taking us on an incredibly sultry journey for the night who also kept on rambling about his ‘hot’ sister.

I love cosplay – so needless to say I was looking forward to seeing costumes and props for the night – and I was very impressed. My absolute highlight was C-3PO as I had no idea how they could make a robot sexy… but they did. Another highlight was Jabba the Hut, a massive blob that would be a nightmare to transport, which fortunately they did not even bother to transform it sexy.

My favourite performances would have to be the Sand People (Tusken Raiders), Boba Fett, the Storm Troopers, and C-3PO and a very unique and fun interpretation of the classic Burlesque 'fan dance’ courtesy of Han Solo (actual male).

The soundtrack for the night consisted of Star Wars classics interspersed with contemporary music (Jay-Z, James Brown).

The night was simply a lot of fun. Obviously I have to recommend this for Star Wars fans. But can you enjoy this show if you are not a fan? Absolutely! But I think it definitely helps to at least have an appreciation for Star Wars or pop culture in general.

The Vanguard itself was surprisingly a small and intimate (no touching!) venue. For General Admission holders, it is just that - staking out a decent spot. For those who cannot bother with that, you can opt for dinner and a show package which gives you seating near the stage – or even take the premium package, which is pretty much on the stage.

At the moment there are very limited tickets available for this very limited run from until December 20, 2012. If you do happen to miss out I would not be surprised if they brought back the show for 2013 – for more information please visit theStar Wars Burlesque facebook page and you can purchase merchandise through Tenderloins.

Like most shows you cannot take photos – so all apologies I cannot give you more of a visual review. The images are courtesy of Star Wars Burlesque and theAU Review.